Born | February 22, 1926 El Dorado, Arkansas, U.S. |
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Died | October 21, 2014 (aged 88) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation |
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Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Caroline Lewis (m. 1951) |
Parent(s) | |
Awards | Thoroughbred horse racing:
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Nelson Bunker Hunt (February 22, 1926 – October 21, 2014) was an Americanoil company executive. He was a billionaire whose fortune collapsed after he and his brothers William Herbert and Lamar Hunt[1] tried to corner the world market in silver but was prevented by government intervention.[2] He was also a thoroughbred horse breeder.[3]
Positioned right across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott, the iconic and one of a kind Reading Terminal Market is a perfect locale for an evening celebration.
Personal[edit]
Hunt was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, but lived most of his life in Dallas, Texas.[4] He was the son of Lyda Bunker and oiltycoonH. L. Hunt, who set up Placid Oil, once one of the biggest independent oil companies,[5] He had six siblings: Margaret Hunt Hill (1915–2007), H. L. Hunt III (1917–2005), Caroline Rose Hunt (1923–2018), Lyda Bunker Hunt (born and died in 1925), William Herbert Hunt (born 1929), and Lamar Hunt (1932–2006). He was married to Caroline Lewis Hunt of Ruston, Louisiana for 63 years until his death, and they had four children together.[6] In October 2014, Hunt died at the age of 88. He had cancer and dementia.[1]
Business career[edit]
Hunt played a significant role in the discovery and development of the oil fields in Libya, which were nationalized by Muammar Gaddafi in 1973.[7] This nationalization later resulted in the House of Lords decision in BP Exploration Co (Libya) v Hunt (No 2) [1983] 2 AC 352.
Hunt owned the Dallas-based Titan Resources Corporation, which is still involved in the exploration of oil in North Africa.[8] He was chairman of Hunt Exploration and Mining Company (HEMCO).[citation needed]
Silver manipulation[edit]
Beginning in the early 1970s, Hunt and his brothers William Herbert and Lamar began accumulating large amounts of silver. By 1979, they had nearly cornered the global market.[9] In the last nine months of 1979, the brothers profited by an estimated US$2-4 billion in silver speculation, with estimated silver holdings of 100 million troy ounces (3,100,000 kg).[10]
Primarily because of the Hunt brothers' accumulation of the precious metal, prices of silver futures contracts and silver bullion rose from $11 an ounce in September 1979 to $50 an ounce in January 1980. Silver prices ultimately collapsed to below $11 an ounce two months later.[11] The largest single day drop in the price of silver occurred on 'Silver Thursday.'[2] In February 1985 the Hunt brothers were charged 'with manipulating and attempting to manipulate the prices of silver futures contracts and silver bullion during 1979 and 1980' by the United StatesCommodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).[2]
In September 1988 the Hunt brothers filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code largely due to lawsuits incurred as a result of their silver speculation.[2]
In 1989, in a settlement with the CFTC, Nelson Bunker Hunt was fined $10 million and banned from trading in the commodity markets as a result of civil charges of conspiring to manipulate the silver market.[2] This fine was in addition to a multimillion-dollar settlement to pay back taxes, fines and interest to the Internal Revenue Service for the same period. His brother[which?] made a similar settlement.[2]
Politics[edit]
Nelson Bunker Hunt was active in conservative political causes[12] and was a member of the Council of the John Birch Society.[4]
Hunt mentored Zahid Bashir, former spokesman and press secretary to the Pakistani Prime Minister, in oil trading. He was one of the main sponsors of the conservative organization Western Goals Foundation, founded in 1979 by General John K. Singlaub, journalist John Rees, and Democratic Congressman from Georgia Larry McDonald. During the mid-1980s, he contributed almost half a million U.S. dollars to The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty (NEPL),[13][14] a conservative fundraising organization later heavily implicated in the Iran–Contra affair.[15] Hunt was past Chairman of the Board of the Bible Society of Texas and the past Chairman of, and significant contributor to Campus Crusade for Christ International's 'Here's Life' Campaign (1976–1980),[16][17] as well as providing a $3.5 million loan guarantee for the 1979 Campus Crusade film Jesus.[18]
Thoroughbred horse racing[edit]
In 1955, Hunt bought his first thoroughbreds and by the 1970s his breeding program had become one of the world's largest and most productive. Winner of the U.S. Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder in 1976, 1985, and 1987, he owned the 8,000-acre (3,200 ha) Bluegrass Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and raced thoroughbreds in Europe and North America. Among his horses, Hunt bred or raced Vaguely Noble, Dahlia, Empery, Youth, Exceller, Trillion, Glorious Song, Dahar and Estrapade.[3]
In 1973 and 1974, Hunt was the British flat racing Champion Owner and in 1976 won The Derby with Empery.[3]
The United States National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) awarded Hunt the title of 'legendary owner-breeder'.[19] Overall, Hunt bred 158 stakes winners and either bred or owned 25 champions.[20]
Hunt's bankruptcy forced him to liquidate his thoroughbred operations. A 1988 dispersal sale of 580 horses at Keeneland Sales brought in $46,911,800, at that time the highest amount in the history of thoroughbred auctions.[3] In 1999, he returned to thoroughbred ownership, spending a total of $2,075,000 on 51 juveniles and yearlings. At the time he said, 'At my age, I don't plan to do any breeding or buy a farm, I just want to have some fun and try to get lucky racing.'[19]
References[edit]
- ^ abMcFadden, Robert D. (22 October 2014). 'Nelson Bunker Hunt, 88, Oil Tycoon With a Texas-Size Presence, Dies'. New York Times. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
- ^ abcdefEichenwald, Kurt (21 December 1989). '2 Hunts Fined And Banned From Trades'. New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
- ^ abcdBowen, Edward L. (2004). Legacies of the Turf: A Century of Great Thoroughbred Breeders. Lexington, KY, United States: Eclipse Press. pp. 249–262. ISBN1-58150-117-X.
- ^ ab'Nelson Bunker Hunt'. The John Birch Society, Inc. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ^'Oil Baron Nelson Bunker Hunt Dies'The Guardian 22 October 2014
- ^'One of the richest men in the world endured bankruptcy, but one investment brought eternal rewards | God Reports'. blog.godreports.com. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^Greenwood, C. J. (1984). International Law Reports. 66. Cambridge University Press. p. 340. ISBN0-521-46411-0.
- ^McLure, Jason (21 August 2008), 'Ethiopia, U.S. Billionaire's Titan Resources Signs Oil Accord'', Bloomberg
- ^Gwynne, S. C. (September 2001). 'Bunker Hunt'. Texas Monthly. Vol. 29 no. 9. Austin, Texas, United States: Emmis Communications Corporation. p. 78.
- ^'Bunker Hunt's Comstock Lode'. Time Magazine. Vol. 115 no. 2. Time Inc. 14 January 1980.
- ^Masters, Michael W.; White, Adam K. (31 July 2008). The Accidental Hunt Brothers: How Institutional Investors Are Driving Up Food And Energy Prices(PDF) (Report). LOE. p. 51. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
- ^Tuccille, Jerome (2004). Kingdom: The Story of the Hunt Family of Texas. Beard Books. p. 311. ISBN1-58798-226-9.
- ^Walsh, Lawrence E. (4 August 1993). 'Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters'. I: Investigations and Prosecutions. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
- ^Hamilton, Lee H.; Inouye, Daniel K. (1995). Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair. DIANE Publishing. pp. 93–94. ISBN0-7881-2602-4.
- ^Berke, Richard L. (9 April 1987). 'Investigators Say Group Raised $2 Million for Contra Arms Aid'. New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
- ^Diamond, Sara (1989). Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right. Boston, USA: South End Press. p. 53. ISBN0-89608-361-6.
- ^Harrington Watt, David (1991). A Transforming Faith: Explorations of Twentieth-century American Evangelicalism. Rutgers University Press. p. 19. ISBN0-8135-1717-6.
- ^Van Biema, David (30 June 2003). 'The Life of Jesus in 830 Languages'. Time Magazine. Vol. 161 no. 26. p. 42.
- ^ ab'Nelson Bunker Hunt'. National Thoroughbred Racing Association. 30 May 2006. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
- ^'John Gaines in his own words', Blood-Horse, 14 February 2005
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nelson_Bunker_Hunt&oldid=892346315'
ANDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - If you're looking for pizza along the Andersonville Highway between the Museum of Appalachia and a mountain lake created by the Tennessee Valley Authority, your best bet may be the same place where you buy your bait and fill up your car.
Hunt Brothers Pizza is quietly winning over the rural South by slipping into places big-name pizza chains probably couldn't survive. It has installed its pizza ovens at so many gas stations and convenience stores that it has more U.S. locations than either Domino's or Pizza Hut.
Located across from a pasture, the Rightway Foodmart in Andersonville sts a little too far from the interstate to get the type of traffic that could support a free-standing fast-food outlet. But it draws plenty of customers who fish or boat on nearby Norris Lake to its pared-down pizzeria, which requires just a few feet of counter space. And the pizza inspires strong loyalty.
'It beats Pizza Hut and Domino's,' said 23-year-old Brittany Bunch, who buys Hunt Brothers about once a week during breaks from her job at a water damage company. 'It's just got more flavor. It seems like, with the others, you're getting cardboard.'
While Hunt Brothers may be unknown in many households, it runs television ads during NASCAR races and cable outdoors shows. For several years, it has sponsored Kevin Harvick, who won the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup.
On a recent morning at 10:40 a.m., Rightway owner Roy Bruce started sliding pizzas for the lunch rush into a conveyor-belt oven. Each pie starts out frozen, a crust with sauce and a layer of cheese. Employees can add fresh pepperoni, extra cheese and other toppings. The result after about 5 minutes in the 525-degree oven is a bubbling-hot pizza with browned toppings that tastes comparable to the big delivery chains' pizzas.
In about an hour, Bruce sold that first pizza and another one in two-slice $2.99 'hunks' from a countertop warming display near his cash register. Nearby, sits a display of fishing hooks, bobbers and jars of bait. Pizza customers included a UPS delivery driver, a woman on her way to lunch with her daughter and a guy in camouflage who confessed he was just coming from the liquor store.
In a typical Hunt Brothers arrangement, Bruce said he paid about $10,000 for his oven, freezer, display case and other equipment and now just pays the Nashville, Tennessee-based company for the pizza ingredients. Hunt Brothers doesn't charge franchise fees or require a contract.
The privately owned company fine-tuned this approach starting in the early 1990s when four brothers who'd worked separately in the restaurant industry joined forces to sell pizzas to convenience stores. Hunt Brothers had 750 locations by 1994, said Keith Solsvig, its vice president for marketing.
'Convenience stores in rural areas were the hub,' Solsvig said in a phone interview. 'A lot of people coming and going. And a lot of these smaller towns, they didn't really have a lot of other restaurants or other places to eat.'
Hunt Brothers now has 7,300 locations in 28 states, with some sites the only dining options for miles. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas each have more than 700 locations, Solsvig said. The Hunt Brothers sign is also a common site on the rural roads of West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and other states in Appalachia.
Not all locations are isolated, with Hunt Brothers found at busy highway interchanges. And it's moved into some urban areas, such as Memphis.
The convenience store model is different from a free-standing restaurant, and a Hunt Brothers outlet is likely to bring in far less than the more than $700,000 an average Domino's makes a year, said Darren Tristano, a restaurant industry analyst with Technomic.
Tristano noted that 7-Eleven offers pizza in some of its 7,800 U.S. locations and that Little Caesars has also had success in rural areas.
While Hunt Brothers declined to discuss company finances, Bruce says he sells about 500 pizzas a month, much of it by the hunk.
Combined with drinks and other convenience items, he estimates pizza customers spend more than $10,000 each month in his store.
Tristano says the simplicity of the setup has helped the company grow. Bruce agreed.
'In a convenience store, you're doing the register, you're doing gas. You're doing so many different things,' Bruce said. 'It's hard to be able to do pizza from the ground up, making the dough and the whole thing.'
Fred England, a food vendor at a furniture factory about 30 miles east of Andersonville, added a Hunt Brothers to his lunch counter about a year ago to keep his customers from looking elsewhere for their pizza fix.
'The problem I had was all these other places were delivering pizza, so I had to come up with something,' he said while stopping at Rightway to chat with Bruce.
Angela Moles came in to get three hunks of pepperoni pizza and drinks to take to lunch with her daughter. The 35-year-old Andersonville resident said she buys Hunt Brothers about twice a week.
'I love it,' she said. 'I usually don't get other pizza.'